Session Title: Digital Content That’s Cheap and Easy for You and the Youth You Work With

Presenter: Chris Dorman, Maine State Library

Session Description: We want their dreams to be big and bold. We want them to know it takes heart and creativity to make the world a better place. They will have to think, invent, and build, but they also get to be silly, outrageous, strong, and amazing. We want them to be inspired by space skyscrapers and smartphones. When they download, fill up, or go green, they need to know an engineer made that possible. Join the session to have fun and think about the engineering mindset and how it can be incorporated into your afterschool program (description part of the Society of Women Engineers Vision)

Session Title: Coding for the Greater Good

Presenter: Stefany Burrell & Kevin Johnson

Session Description: Do you have kids who love computers and could benefit from a structured way to engage with them? Come learn about two ways you can channel your participants’ interest with Code Clubs and Science & Engineering projects. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has amazing resources and support for educators like you to start Code Clubs. And the MMSA provides support to help you mentor students to do science and engineering projects that can solve problems in your community and the world at large. You’re not in this alone; we’re here to help you along the way.

Session Title: Telling Your Afterschool Story

Presenter: Alexis Steines Rao, Vice President of Field Outreach Afterschool Alliance

Session Description: Telling your afterschool story is a key part of building support for your afterschool program. During this interactive workshop, we will discuss what works and what doesn’t when communicating about afterschool, how to tailor your message for key audiences, and how to leverage this information and build support for your program. We’ll also talk about how you can incorporate partners, like parents and community members into your messaging.

Session Title: Teach Through the Lens of Agriculture

Presenter: Kelsey Fortin, Education & Outreach Coordinator – Maine Agriculture in the Classroom

Session Description: Agriculture provides an awesome context for learning! During this session participants will learn ways in which they can teach experiential, real life learning, as well as science, technology, engineering, math, reading, art, and health through the lens of Agriculture. Participants will learn about the resources, opportunities, and curriculum that Maine Agriculture in the Classroom has available. Easy to implement, hands-on lessons and activities will be modeled that participants can take back to their programs.

Session Title: Youth’s Questions at the Heart of STEM- More Than Following Directions

Presenter: Perrin Chick, Maine Math and Science Alliance

Session Description: When youth lead by asking questions on certain topics, OST time staff have opportunities to design really interesting STEM activities. When youth choose the direction of a lesson, really interesting science experiments and learning results. Participants in this session will not only learn more about the Science Process but will gain some fun ready-to-go ideas for their program. This will be a fun session with a few creative drawing (and thinking) activities. We’ll talk about the difference between creating research questions and designing experiments by modeling a cool sorting activity.